Yerba Buena Gardens is a five-acre rooftop park built in the 1990s over the underground Moscone Convention Center, the centerpiece of a decades-long redevelopment that demolished the working-class residential hotels of the old South of Market. The garden is a green deck above the convention halls.
At its east end is the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, a 50-foot artificial waterfall you can walk behind. Glass panels set into the wall carry King’s words in several languages, including his line about the waters of justice. The fountain runs over the noise of the city, and the lawn hosts free summer festivals.
Part of a self-guided walking tour
